Personally I found one of the more effective ways to build up an initial playerbase was to make sure the game had enjoyable solo activities. There are a minority of players who are happy to play a mud as if it were a single-player game, as long as it's entertaining - if you can appeal to these players, you can build up a small core of regulars, enough that casual visitors won't just quit within a minute or two of logging on (although some newbies will always do this, regardless of how many other players you've got).

Most of the content would be easily accessible and solo-based. Then on the side, there would be group content. This would ensure that players can play the game by themselves until they find buddies to go tackle content together.

Another thing, is a clear path of progression for the players. They must be able to look at their characters and see where they are currently at (ie: level 5) and where they want to get too in the near future (ie: level 10 because "triple jump kick" looks OH so cool!).

Quote:

Originally Posted by KaVir

Other than that, I've found that players are more likely to hang around if I'm online - even now that I've got a fairly stable (albeit small) playerbase, if I'm on vacation for more than a few days it dips noticably. My playerbase also fluctuates quite a lot based on my development activity, and I believe muds that hold scheduled events also see a rise in players for those events.

But all of this requires time and effort. A playerbase isn't a static thing, you need to work hard to maintain it - even if you open your doors in 6 months and hordes of newbies rush in, if you don't keep working on it they will drift away.

Yes, being on the game and active is extremely important. I had 20,000 or so logged hours ATS! I would personally greet each new player and would try to get to know them on some level (like what MUD they came from, or if they were new in general, etc). I wanted to build a community and have a good relationship. I wanted the players to like the game and I wanted them to know I would listen to their concerns and try my best to fix it.

Another thing I did, was to make daily posts on our forums describing the changes I did that day on the game. Then I had a Changes Forum where players could post up what they thought about the changes and we could have friendly debates. This worked extremely well. We only ran into problems with the difficulty of modifying ROM to do what we wanted it to do....and I was having major personal issues back then. I will do the same thing here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by KaVir

A few years ago I described a generic background system, which you might find of interest if you don't have a clear idea how you'd like to handle classes. It can be used to represent both class-based and classless systems (even both at the same time if you wish), and can also cover races, alignment, clans, supernatural afflictions, and so on.

I looked at your Background System. That is a really cool idea. It seems very well done and I can definitely see the benefits for doing it that way. Did you end up implementing it for your game? I like character customization (who doesn't? lol) and what you've described is a good take on it.

Dayrinni,
I remember that name from Dragon's gate. Do you ever wander back to their old message boards? There are a couple of us that occasionally keep in touch over there but for the most part we have all moved on and several of us have made a new home at Isles of Aedin. It was created and it is run by a couple of former Dragon's Gate players. I encourage you to check it out. If you're interested, I think Dan is looking for people to help build etc.

Of course, you might be well informed of the goings on in Aedin and I am just rambling for no purpose. But if you are at all interested in re-connecting with some of the old Dragon's Gate crew, take a look at these links.

Dayrinni,
I remember that name from Dragon's gate. Do you ever wander back to their old message boards? There are a couple of us that occasionally keep in touch over there but for the most part we have all moved on and several of us have made a new home at Isles of Aedin. It was created and it is run by a couple of former Dragon's Gate players. I encourage you to check it out. If you're interested, I think Dan is looking for people to help build etc.

Of course, you might be well informed of the goings on in Aedin and I am just rambling for no purpose. But if you are at all interested in re-connecting with some of the old Dragon's Gate crew, take a look at these links.

Ha, that is awesome that someone from Dragon's Gate is on here. And even awesomer that someone remembers my characters. Man, the good ole of days of grinding in the animal pens at the arena. I got pure pleasure from doing that. The AG was completely amazing. The RP was stellar. That was a great game.

You may remember my other characters - Bluedragoon (haha), Kilosi, Arazis and the infamous General Knox.

I will check the MUD out - seems interesting as I haven't been to the DGate boards in a long timeeeee. I sorta stop checking them out when in 2005.

I looked at your Background System. That is a really cool idea. It seems very well done and I can definitely see the benefits for doing it that way. Did you end up implementing it for your game? I like character customization (who doesn't? lol) and what you've described is a good take on it.

I have "talents" which are mechanically similar, and that's what led me to the idea of backgrounds - but I'd already implemented classes by that point, and I don't have races as such, so I didn't feel the need to go back and redo them. If I were to start again I'd probably use the background system though. My talent system has proved to be a great success, offering a lot of possibilities for customisation, and the background system takes it a step further.

I have "talents" which are mechanically similar, and that's what led me to the idea of backgrounds - but I'd already implemented classes by that point, and I don't have races as such, so I didn't feel the need to go back and redo them. If I were to start again I'd probably use the background system though. My talent system has proved to be a great success, offering a lot of possibilities for customisation, and the background system takes it a step further.

I'm afraid not, although there are some examples on the wiki. However it's basically just a skill web - each talent is a boolean ability that grants certain bonuses and has a set of requirements, which may include stats, skills, traits, etc. Talents may also require or block other talents. They work very much as I described the background system, as the idea was based on my talent system.